Condoms with Barcodes Track Safe Sex

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A new Planned Parenthood initiative combines sex and social media
to encourage people to use protection while they're getting busy.

Last week, as part of National Condom Week, Planned Parenthood of
the Great Northwest distributed 55,000 condoms with QR (or Quick
Response) codes on the packaging across colleges and universities
in western Washington state. The idea is that condom users can
scan these codes with a smartphone
after using protection, "checking in" on a global map of safe
sex.

The site, www.wheredidyouwearit.com,
is totally anonymous, though users can provide some vague details
about the sexual encounter and how it went, from "things can only
improve from here" to "it was ah-maz-ing."

Planned Parenthood officials say the goal is to encourage pride
about preventing pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.
[ How
to Wear a Condom ]

“We hope the site promotes discussions within relationships about
condoms and helps to remove perceived stigmas that some people
may have about condom use," Nathan Engebretson, the local Planned
Parenthood's new media coordinator. "Where Did You Wear
It attempts to create some fun around making
responsible decisions."

Recent research suggests that
condom use is up in teenage boys, though global studies
suggest that operator error such as failing to check condoms for
damage or storing condoms incorrectly may prevent condoms from
reaching their full protection potential.

The Planned Parenthood initiative focuses on encouraging safe sex
among college students, as college is a formative time for sexual
behavior. A recently-released study of female
college freshmen found that these young women use condoms at
relatively high rates at first, but often drop them over the
course of their first year at school

So far, the safe sex map reveals encounters from coast to coast
and internationally. And most users seem pretty pleased with
protected sex.

"A 20 something girl and a guy whose relationship is all about
love and have already talked about safer sex and STDs used a
condom in the bedroom to prevent an unplanned pregnancy," reads
one report from Casper, Wyo. "It was ah-maz-ing – rainbows
exploded and mountains trembled."